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Friday, September 18, 2015

Can you believe it? Leo is 1! The year has gone way too fast and as usual, I was left scrambling together a birthday party!

If you’ve been a follower for a while, you will know I love a good party (click here for Hugh’s party and here for Charlie’s party). We always celebrate our boys 1st birthday with a big party and after the year we’ve had with Leo and his sleep (or lack of sleep – we are off to sleep school in a month. 1 month….counting down), this party was for my husband and I. We got through this year….and Leo has made sure he is the last baby.

Leo’s party was inspired by his nursery. Think timber, feathers, animals and copper.

The lovely Brooke from Piccolo Studio created his invitations and they were just perfect and set the scene for the rest.

Believe it or not, this party wasn’t as detailed as I normally go…..the whole thing of chasing after 3 boys, running a business, no sleep etc., left me with no time and I kept it as simple as I could, while still looking a bit glam!

Any products I ordered, I wanted to make sure they were able to tie in with his nursery once the party was over. Zilvi created this gorgeous sign for the back drop.

I couldn’t find what I was after for the fruit cups, so ended up buying some plain cupcake patty’s and spent the afternoon glittering the base (along with feathers and cutlery – see to the right of the hippo below?)

Yet again, the fab Piccolo Studio created the cake topper. I also glittered up a 1 candle to match and then added a couple of spray painted animals. Simple!

The cake was a fall back plan……so I grabbed a Woolworths sponge and went with a naked cake look! Tasted not too bad really!

The backdrop tassels are from DD Brand and I’ve already got them hanging vertically in a corner of the nursery. There was also big love for the balloon from Poppies for Grace.

I added a gift tag (from Piccolo Studio) and glittered feather to a simple paper bag for the kids goodie bags.

The birthday boy wore his outfit from Hubble and Duke…..he looked so cute! I had the crown on him for approx. 0.05 seconds before he grabbed at it (hence the reason it’s not sitting on his head properly).

Thursday, September 17, 2015

I regularly design girls rooms via my e-design kits, but it’s not often I get to see them finished and the design come to life (funnily enough, it’s usually boys mumma’s that send me pics)!

I worked with my clients, who are based in Western Australia and together we created this glam nursery that fills all their needs and wants. It’s a tiny room but we were able to fit so much goodness in….we covered all the practical and glam elements!

So we started with this (along with this board, my clients get a finishing touches board which has everything they need!):

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

It’s such an honour to be included in the Australian House & Garden Top 50 rooms of 2015!

This year, I submitted Hugh & Charles room as well as Leo’s Nursery…..and to be honest, the boys shared room was submitted at the last minute (I was sure that if any, it would have been Leo’s nursery to be picked!). When I received the email, there was jumping involved!

I’ll be attending an awards lunch at the start of October, so fingers crossed. Now I just have to work out what I’m going to wear!

Monday, August 3, 2015

If you follow me on instagram, you will have seen how busy Leo & I were last week! Wednesday night saw us at the launch of the TiniTrader Pop Up shop and then at Life Instyle/Kids Instyle on Thursday before heading back to Bendigo.

I had the pleasure of working with TiniTrader a couple of months ago for their Style Series (which you can view here) and was thrilled that the timing worked so perfectly for LIS as well.

There was inspiration galore and it was so good to be able to touch and play with so many goodies!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Do you know what I love? I love a good market. One where it has everything covered….something for Mum, something for Dad, something for the kids and is all top quality.

The Wild Collective launches its first market in 2015 and it promises to be all of that plus more! Being held in Melbourne at the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building, there will be over 120 handpicked vendors AND (and this is a big draw card in my opinion!) a man cave! That’s right….we can drop the other halves off to a pop up bar whilst we head for a shop!

With everything from fashion, home wares, to art and beauty products, you will be able to enjoy it all knowing that the whole family is covered. The Wild Collective is a celebration of the whole tribe, from big to small and incorporates zones for little ones to be fed and changed, a play zone for the little and big wildings to let off some steam and have some fun and of course somewhere to enjoy some delicious food!

Oobi will launch their new summer range at the market as well. Oobi's brand ethos is "Let them be Little". The idea is that a child should have a childhood full of wonder and colour, pattern and light. And fashion can offer this to a child. It can excite the senses and be a reminder in future of happy days, of play, of love and joy.

The Wild Collective is a concept that creators and tribe leaders, Amy Cimino and Renee Falck, have been developing for many years. After months spent researching local and international events, fairs and exhibitions, they are delighted to reveal The Wild Collective.

“We are beyond ecstatic to launch this new age shopping and lifestyle experience, with our first stop being Melbourne.The Wild Collective is for anyone. We have created a new way to shop by transforming the retail experience to be fun–not just a quick necessity. With hectic lifestyles, we know all too well that going shopping can sometimes be a chaotic stressful experience due to busy schedules or juggling so much responsibility. The Wild Collective aims to make the retail experience an exciting and energising day out.

The Wild Collective will be situated at The Royal Exhibition Building, located just north of Melbourne’s CBD in the Carlton Gardens.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

This room has seen some changes! Starting out a plain white room when we first moved in 3 weeks before Hugh was born, it progressed into this (more images here):

It stayed that way for about 3 years (with the cot turned into a toddler bed) until we needed to move the boys in together to make way for baby number 3…..not that I was even pregnant at that stage, we just knew Hugh & Charlie would have to share. So then the room looked like this (you can see more images here):

But I started getting itchy decorating fingers. The room still looked beautiful but don’t forget that I completed this back in 2013….before the HUGE trend that is now monochrome. I was a little bit sick of seeing it and wanted something unique for the boys room. For a while, I played with the room being a bit more relaxed. I even changed the triangle decals to tractor ones (WHAT?!! Yes, tractor decals). I actually can’t even find a decent photo of the room in that state (below is the only one I could see)….I mustn’t have been feeling it. But you know my style….and it always reverts back to a classic base.

So it was time to make a change. The beds and bedheads were still in fantastic condition so there was no way they needed to be changed (that’s what happens when you make good design choices – the base is always re-workable!). Because of the room layout, there’s just no other way to fit 2 beds in this little room so essentially it was a matter of changing the feature wall and a few prints! So let’s share, shall I? (of course, you’ve probably already seen it on instagram and in Minty Magazine).

So there you have it! I won’t go into the ‘why’ of everything selected, but I will say that I LOVED supporting so many local Australian and New Zealand suppliers…little businesses that are making big impacts!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of the whole 3 kid thing! Who knows, I might even get back into regular blogging (let’s not be hasty though!).

I think I have more than enough experience now to share with you the things that I couldn’t have done without. I know they are different for everyone, but these have been good enough to make the grade and in use every day.

1. Milkbar nursing pillow. For Hugh and Charles, I just used a triangle pillow and it was good enough BUT this really is awesome. It’s a very rare feed that I don’t use the pillow with Leo and I use it for those long cuddles when he just wants holding (and this supports my arms fabulously). Highly recommend!

2. Bella Buttercup Play Space. Having the 2 older boys and their limitations with knowing personal space, I found this great for putting on the floor and them knowing that they had to be really careful with Leo in that area. I still use it occasionally, but Leo is more likely to roll around it than on it!

3. Nursery Works Empire Rocker. Lucky for me, I was working with a client who’s nursery was just calling out for one of these chairs. I got in touch with the distrubiter and was able to get one for my client and one for me (before I was pregnant with Leo)….hoorah! And if you’ve been lusting after one of these chairs for as long as I have, you’ll know they are difficult to get in Australia. Yes, this is a complete splurge BUT after we’ve finished with it in the nursery, I’ll be moving it into my office. With the older boys, I never had a decent chair and it’s something I hated. The hours you spend in there, I think it’s essential to be comfortable. And this baby sure is. I love it.

4. Ergo 360. On an easy day, I get Leo in and out of the car about 10 times (school and kinder pick ups at different times don’t help!). Rather than get the pram in and out of the car all the time, I pop him in the ergo. I know if it’s close to sleep time, I can guarantee a sleep in this too. We use it (and the pram) about half and half. Brilliant for keeping the arms free when I’ve got all 3 boys.

5. Reds Baby Pram. This is my 4th pram (eeek! In fairness, my first pram was a single, then I had the other boys really close together and needed a double and then I just needed a stroller) and by far the best. 8 months in, I still love it. They aren’t available in stores and are based in Sydney, so it was good timing when I went and visited my brother and sister in law when I met Reds Baby for a trial of it. Light weight, easy to manoeuvre, look good and good price. It doesn’t hurt that it’s called Red’s baby….my husband calls me Red.

6. Ikea Hemnes dresser. A change table on my essentials list? Yep. I know a lot of people don’t use a change table at all (I don’t know how you do it, my back hurts when I do it on the floor or bed) but I’ve always had one. With the older boys, I used a traditional change table and it was fine. But with the layout of Leo’s nursery, it just wasn’t going to work so I decided to pop the change pad on the top of the dresser. It’s a brilliant height, the drawers underneath hide the ugly things whilst still being really easy access and it’s a piece that will work after nappies are finished.

7. Boori Urbane Bassinet. I don’t know what it was….maybe Leo being our last….but I was really hesitant about him being away from me! Right through my pregnancy, I couldn’t decide if I wanted one or not. I never used one for the boys, they went pretty much straight into their cots. I decided the week before I had Leo that I needed one, ordered one from Melbourne and it arrived the day before I had Leo. I could wheel it out to our family room during the day and at night, Leo would be right beside our bed. It was only when he was too big for it (at just over 6 months) that he went into his cot all the time.

8. Love to dream swaddle. After the first month, Leo was an arms up sleeper so we popped him into one of these and done. When it was time to transition, we went for the 50/50.

9. Alphabet Monkey Swaddle. Awww look at baby Leo on his 2nd day of life here. The AM swaddle was the first one I would reach for when Leo was a newborn. They are really lovely stretchy fabric and they look good!

10. Instagram. Really, insta? Yes, really. With the amount of hours you spend under a sleeping or feeding baby it gave me something to look at and do.

So tell me, are any of these on your essential list? What else would you add?